Six students at Moratuwa University test positive for COVID-19

Six out of seven students from the University of Moratuwa's Department of Textile and Apparel Engineering who were subjected to PCR tests have tested positive for COVID-19.

The students were among a group of 60 from the department who sat for their final exams at the university recently, health officials stated. 

The students had undergone PCR tests in their personal capacity after showing symptoms of COVID such as sore throat and mild fever. It was thereafter that they were identified as having contracted COVID-19. 

Five of the students are currently being isolated and treated at a hostel belonging to the university while a sixth has been transferred to a hospital as his symptoms had become more severe. 

About 25 of the students who sat for the exam had already returned to their homes while about 30 others who remained have been quarantined at another of the university's hostels. Efforts are already underway to track down the students who have returned to their homes, health officials added. 

The exams were held at the university on April 29 and 30. Health authorities stated that three of the students who sat for the exams were working at apparel factories while studying. They suspect that one or more of these students may have been infected at their workplaces and transmitted the virus to other students who sat for the exam. 

The remaining students who have been quarantined at due to undergo PCR tests. 

Prof. Neranjan Gunawardena, the University's Vice-Chancellor, stated that students who were sitting for exams while working at apparel factories had been instructed to self-isolate for two weeks prior to sitting for their exams and said this had been the practice in previous exams held during recent times as well. However, he suspected this might not have happened in this particular instant. 

He added that they have commenced discussions with officials at the University Hospital of the Sir John Kotelawala Defence University to admit any students who may suffer from severe illness brought on by COVID-19. 

By Reka Tharangani Fonseka